What do I have here? Belt drive drill/mill?

[mix4coal]

I just picked this up. Very interesting. It looks like some kind of milling drill press.
The Westinghouse motor head rotates with a belt drive on top and pulley on the bottom. The round table has a pulley that matches the bottom motor pulley and the table spins when the pulley is turned. The round table moves left and right and up and down. It has a Jacobs spiral gear chuck.The only names on it are the Westinghouse motor and the Jacobs chuck. It does have P & L cast in the frame. Has anyone ever seen this before or know what its intended use is? My wife wants to use it as a plant stand.

 

[crguy]

I don't know what it is, but somebody is going to want that.
Don't let it become a plant stand!

 

[FrankLee]

I just picked this up. Very interesting. It looks like some kind of milling drill press.
The Westinghouse motor head rotates with a belt drive on top and pulley on the bottom. The round table has a pulley that matches the bottom motor pulley and the table spins when the pulley is turned. The round table moves left and right and up and down. It has a Jacobs spiral gear chuck.The only names on it are the Westinghouse motor and the Jacobs chuck. It does have P & L cast in the frame. Has anyone ever seen this before or know what its intended use is? My wife wants to use it as a plant stand.

I was there yesterday and looked at that too. I was hoping the column was 2-3/4", but was smaller. It was very cool, tho. Can you share what you paid?
The seller had a ton of tools. Buy anything else?

 

[nine4gmc]

Please no plant stand. Hopefully someone here will know what it is, thanks for posting!

 

[mix4coal]

To late, my wife confiscated it. It weighs a couple hundred pounds. I picked up four machinist tool boxes with contents and a little arbor press. I tried to pry the Logan 820 lathe of his hands but he had a good grip on it.

 

[mix4coal]

Sorry for the sideways pics. Don't know why they come out that way.

 

[larry_g]

To late, my wife confiscated it. It weighs a couple hundred pounds..

I vote we ban the guy...

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Doug Arthurs]

Looks good as a plant stand. Probably not good for much else anyway.

 

[FrankLee]

To late, my wife confiscated it. It weighs a couple hundred pounds. I picked up four machinist tool boxes with contents and a little arbor press. I tried to pry the Logan 820 lathe of his hands but he had a good grip on it.

Those boxes were pretty nice. They need just a little cleaning and tightening up. That guy had some really nice things. Did you see that early Brush Motor Car?

 

[mix4coal]

Did you see that early Brush Motor Car?

Yeah, he uncovered the car for me. Cool old car. It has a one cylinder engine.
Nice guy too. He did have a lot of nice stuff. I want to get a lathe but I just don't know enough to bite the bullet and get the tools from him.i can't afford to get stuck with some pricey stuff I may not need.

 

[ganymede]

It's a fine plant stand.

It looks ridiculous actually .
Hope the op's wife didn't pay too much.

 

[crguy]

It's a fine plant stand.

No, and OH HELL NO!

 

[leg17]

Looks better with ivy than it would in the crusher.

 

[Packard V8]

Still, I'd really like to know what's the deal with the table with the two adjust wheels and the pulley? It seems a version of an X/Y table. Never seen one of those in fifty years of looking at DPs and even stranger on a relatively light duty unit.

jack vines

 

[Strouty]

I think the real question at this point is what is the capacity of the table and can it safely support the plants??

 

[LXCam]

I think the real question at this point is what is the capacity of the table??

Appears to be about of the 2 gallon variety. Then again looks can be deceiving and it might be pushing a 3'r.


You guys that scoff at this, I'd be interested in knowing what you would do with it. Like duck pointed out, put it in the shop as a dust collector or would you try to actually use the darn thing.


I think it's cool just the way it sits and at least it's in doors.

 

[mix4coal]

Still, I'd really like to know what's the deal with the table with the two adjust wheels and the pulley? jack vines

The odd thing is to run the pulley on the table, the motor needs to be turned horizontal so the bottom pulley will line up with the table pulley. Then the drill will be horizontal and can't be used with the rotating table.

 

[Packard V8]

I'll go with an early version of a
Shopking And you're missing a lot of stuff.

Round Sander
Circular saw
Lathe head
All missing.

Look at it as if it were a horizontal tool instead of vertical and it'll maybe make more sense. .

I've never seen an upright lathe but I can't imagine why you couldn't.

How fast do you think the motor turn the table and what do the handles and wheels do?
I am at a huge disadvantage by not being there, but are you sure the pulley is actually supposed to be a pulley and that it isn't a homemade item to replace a hand wheel?

Never seen or heard of a Shopking. A quick search didn't turn up any photos. Got any?

With the round base with hold-down bolt holes, I can't make it work horizontally no how.

What happens when the pulley-like thing is turned? Other than the plant getting shredded?

jack vines

 

[2oolhound]

I couldn't see too much detail or enlarge the photos so I lightened them up and enlarged them. Of coarse the last photo I did answered a lot of my questions and I think you answered them in you original post so no need to answer them again, sorry bout that.

Thought I'd post these lighter versions anyway.

The table drive wheel doesn't use a belt it uses a round cord so all that would be needed to change direction from the motor from horizontal to vertical would be 2 idler pulleys up by the motor. I guess that turns the table?

What a cool find.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

The odd thing is to run the pulley on the table, the motor needs to be turned horizontal so the bottom pulley will line up with the table pulley. Then the drill will be horizontal and can't be used with the rotating table.

I wonder if the drill and motor are not connected, allowing motor to swivel. Then the drill is just a steady rest.

 

[2oolhound]

I wonder if the drill and motor are not connected, allowing motor to swivel. Then the drill is just a steady rest.

Bingo! I does look like the motor could swivel independent from the drill. It even appears to have a cam lock lever sticking up in the full shot where you see the on/off switch.

But what was the intended purpose...

 

[Carla]

That is one truly fascinating piece of equipment..... : )

I've never seen anything quite like it, to be sure, but its a quite impressive machine, when one considers the sheer amount of pattern-making, foundry work, machining, and fitting which went into it.....it was not a cheap machine when new.

There are some details which suggest a time-frame in which it was built, and its original intended purpose. The time-frame could be mid to late 1930's, and its purpose would be reasonably accurate drilling/milling of hardwoods for pattern work, using routing bits.

Essentially, it would do the work of a much more expensive Oliver pattern mill, only on a smaller scale, for smaller patterns. In operation, envision a hardwood sub-table to be screwed to the machine table, to which is secured the workpiece. Having a swivel capability of both the drill head, and the table, one could set for various angles easily when using parallel-sided router bits, and plunge-cut features to the depth of the quill travel.

Considering the very large quantities of relatively small wooden patterns needed for the very large number of varieties of small castings run by the foundries in this country, this was likely a practical, cost-effective machine.

cheers

Carla

 

[2oolhound]

That is one truly fascinating piece of equipment..... : )

I've never seen anything quite like it, to be sure, but its a quite impressive machine, when one considers the sheer amount of pattern-making, foundry work, machining, and fitting which went into it.....it was not a cheap machine when new.

There are some details which suggest a time-frame in which it was built, and its original intended purpose. The time-frame could be mid to late 1930's, and its purpose would be reasonably accurate drilling/milling of hardwoods for pattern work, using routing bits.

Essentially, it would do the work of a much more expensive Oliver pattern mill, only on a smaller scale, for smaller patterns. In operation, envision a hardwood sub-table to be screwed to the machine table, to which is secured the workpiece. Having a swivel capability of both the drill head, and the table, one could set for various angles easily when using parallel-sided router bits, and plunge-cut features to the depth of the quill travel.

Considering the very large quantities of relatively small wooden patterns needed for the very large number of varieties of small castings run by the foundries in this country, this was likely a practical, cost-effective machine.

cheers

Carla

So are you saying it shouldn't be a plant stand?




I like your hypothesis.

 

[Packard V8]

its purpose would be reasonably accurate drilling/milling of hardwoods for pattern work, using routing bits.

But not in a Jacobs chuck. Long as we're doing forensics, how is the chuck attached to the spindle and how would a router bit have been held?

jack vines

 

[Carla]

But not in a Jacobs chuck. Long as we're doing forensics, how is the chuck attached to the spindle and how would a router bit have been held?

jack vines

From the photos, it would appear that the spindle is intended to carry a straight-shank tool, secured with a set-screw, which was a common practice for the use of router bits.

For example, one of the three interchangeable spindles for my little Delta DP220 has a 1/2" plain bore, and set-screw, for use with 1/2" shank router bits. (The other spindles have a 1/2" Jacobs chuck, and a 2 Morse taper.)

This one might be set up for a larger diameter bit shank. The Jacobs chuck would have a straight shank of a suitable size, and be retained by a set-screw.

The machine's owner could easily check this detail, of course.

cheers

Carla

 

[Carla]

So are you saying it shouldn't be a plant stand?
I like your hypothesis.

Well, I've heard this called 're-purposing', like the steam-punk so-called 'art' pieces.

Years ago, I was shown a bit of 1940's vintage decorative re-purposing, in which three 1863 model Springfield rifled muskets (the common Federal issue infantry weapon for the war between the states) had little steel triangles welded to them to form a 'historical' floor lamp. The triangles were drilled for a centre steel tube which held the lamp socket and shade.

Its all a matter of taste, I suppose...... : )

cheers

Carla

 

[tombell572]

Its all a matter of taste, I suppose...... : )

cheers

Carla

Perhaps, but for me a matter of desecration of American industrial history to feed someone's misguided concept of "art".

Tom B.

 

[mix4coal]

The motor and drill are connected and swivel together not independent of each other. If i turn the table to the back under the motor and flip the motor so the pulley is on the right side, the pulleys line up better. The table also swivels as you can see the degree marks. I have included a picture of the under side of the table that show the drive gears. The chuck is not held in place with a set screw but appears to be mounted with a spanner wrench nut. Is has P&L R cast into the handles and the body has P&L H cast on it. The lather belt says Wittprufe.The table does move up and down in the slot.

 

[454ragtop]

Pretty interesting machine, I'm sure they'd love to see it over at owwm.org , someone there may even recognize it. As to it being a plant stand, there's worse fates. It's inside, unmodified, and could return to its former glory at a moments notice, if someone could figure out what the former glory was. Wife permitting of course...........